Updated 10:53 pm, Tuesday, November 20, 2012

SCHENECTADY — Brett Wentworth's mother was visibly shaken as jail guards escorted her son's alleged killer into a Schenectady County courtroom on Tuesday.

Barbara Conary of Niskayuna and her family had waited for this moment since April 2010, when Wentworth was strangled to death in his Wendell Avenue apartment on the city's north side.

Schenectady County Judge Karen Drago unsealed the five-count indictment Tuesday charging career criminal John Wakefield III with three top-level felonies that could keep him locked up for the rest of his life.

The 46-year-old former Schenectady resident pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of robbery.

During the arraignment, Wakefield told Drago he is serving a sentence of two to four years in prison for attempted assault.

Drago reminded Wakefield that he could be sentenced as a persistent felon because of his two prior felonies.

Wakefield was also convicted of criminal contempt around the time of the Wentworth slaying for making harassing phone calls to his ex-girlfriend and her mother in violation of a stay-away order of protection.

Wakefield was sent back to Green Haven Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Dutchess County, without bail pending a Feb. 1 court appearance on the murder charges. District Attorney Robert Carney and Assistant District Attorney Peter Willis said Wentworth and Wakefield knew each other.

"The underlying motivation for the murder was robbery," Carney said. "It wasn't a home invasion of someone that was not known to him."

The district attorney credited the "dogged" work by at least three city police investigators who worked on the case, well as the extensive DNA testing by the State Police lab.

For a time, the hunt for Wentworth's killer hit a snag, prompting his family and Trustco Bank to offer a $2,000 reward for any clues. "It's traditional police work and forensics that led us to conclude he is responsible for the crime," said Willis,

Wentworth's sister, Margaret Messer, said the family was relieved and grateful to the district attorney and police for their hard work. She had previously described Wentworth, who left behind a daughter, as a "loving father, loyal son and a wonderful brother."

Conflict Defender Stephen Signore, who represented Wakefield at the arraignment, said he needed to look into possible conflicts arising from his representation of potential witnesses in this case when he worked in the county pubic defender's office.

In 2008, Wakefield sued the police department for $5.5 million, alleging police brutality. The status of that case was not immediately available.